New Canadian maritime security rules in effect

Amendments to Canada’s Marine Transport Security Regulations that bring the country’s rules regarding seafarers into international compliance have gone into effect.
According to a press release, “The amendments focus on meeting mandatory requirements set by the International Maritime Organization and reflect recent changes made to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers.
The new rules will also align Canada’s regulatory regime for maritime security with the outlook of the U.S., eliminating some redundancies, and reduce the burden of regulations on operators, so that they can be more flexible, according to the release.
"These changes will ensure robust marine regulations and continued improvements to the security of the transportation system for Canadians,” Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt said in a statement.
The changes were first proposed in April with a 60-day comment period.